Wine Tasting
by Fafsernir
Summary: France, 1998. They're just tasting wine. [Day 1 of "7 days/7 fics"]


_A quick explanation of this:_ 8 days - 8 fics _is a challenge we're doing with a friend. Basically, for 8 days, we'll be writing a fic a day (based on 10 days / 10 songs by PV Nova, a french youtuber/musician) with conditions we came up with. Even if the fics are part of the same challenge, they can all be read apart, nothing connect them._

 _So today's conditions were:_ Prompt " _Don't you die on me."_ \- Fandom _Doctor Who_ \- Category _Romance -_ Imposed word _vodka_ (suggested by Plume-now)

 _And right before you read: I have a "weird" version of the Ten-Rose ship, which is that they are together, but they don't kiss & hug all the time, so this fic might appear more "friendship" than romance, but I wrote it with them being together in mind. __Aaaand I'm French and it's the 14th of July, so let me talk about French things ;) (I'm not even sorry, it was fun to write)_

* * *

"Where are we?" Rose asked right after the TARDIS landed.

The Doctor grinned when he saw her excited smile. "France, 1998. Do you like wine?"

"Isn't that a bit cliché? We're in France, so there _has_ to be wine?"

"Oh no, there's wine because we're at a wine tasting," the Doctor exclaimed, opening the TARDIS' doors on a busy street. "Well, it's a market, with a lot of wine. But you can taste it too!"

Rose stepped out, following him slowly, looking at everything around her. She had been in different planets, had already seen markets in which they sold wonderful things, and lived in London. She remembered Christmas markets, but nothing had ever been quite like this. The stalls were classical, nothing remarkable about them, but the fact that all of them had wine was amazing, but she didn't know why.

She turned on herself, laughing as she realized that people seemed to know what they were doing: some commented on the age of a bottle, on the varietal – what was even that? – others guessed the fruits they could taste, or commented on the volume of alcohol. And only by sipping, or even just smelling! She could barely tell if a wine was red or... something else.

A hand on hers stopped her train of thoughts and she looked up at the Doctor who was dragging her to some stall, a huge smile on his face. He took two glasses from the man there, thanking him, and gave one to Rose, who frowned.

"Mmh... Doctor," she whispered, leaning against him. "I know nothing about wine."

"Follow my lead," he winked at her and took a small sip, tasting the wined on his tongue, loudly. Rose wanted to laugh, but he didn't seem to be the only one doing this. She tried to do the same, but didn't like the taste and almost spit it out. "Oh wow!" the Doctor said, but the only thing Rose could think was that at least she knew it was red wine, this time.

He talked with the man for a couple of minutes, Rose looking around, then dragged her to another stall, his eyes shining with excitement. She followed him, amused by his childish behaviour.

After the fourth tasting, she started to like the taste a bit better, even though she still wasn't a big fan of it. She wondered, after a new tasting, if she was starting to get drunk. Maybe that was why it tasted less bad.

The Doctor was laughing, telling a story that involved too many drinks, and Rose was walking beside him, half-leaning against him. She buried her face in his shoulder when he put his arm around her waist, both laughing.

"Hey, don't you die on me!" he said, stopping in the middle of the street.

"I'm not dying," she mumbled. "I'm..."

"Drunk?" he offered, and she scoffed, but didn't answer. "You obviously haven't tasted a Whipped Hopper!" he laughed, walking again.

"A what?"

He stopped and turned to her, frowning. "Mh? Oh... Wrong century. Maybe wrong planet too..." The Doctor paused, then his face lit up. "Vodka?"

"I've already tasted vodka." Rose shuddered at the memory. "But we haven't eaten anything and we've been tasting wine for a while..."

"Yeah, _tasting_ , and _wine_ , that's like drinking water. Well, unless you're drinking water on Qaplomia, I don't recommend it."

"Doctor," Rose sighed. "Food?"

"Right!" he said, then looked around, still helping Rose to walk. "What about cheese? Don't look at me like this, we're in France, it's the best place on Earth to eat cheese!" She eventually nodded, smiling.

Eating helped Rose, and she soon felt better, laughing at the Doctor's stories. She watched him, amused, when he bought cases of wine, saying that it could always come in handy. Especially if they were to be captured, wine always brought peace. Or he hoped so.


End file.
